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SAS ® Visual Analytics 7.1 for SAS ® Cloud Quick-Start Guide
SAS® Visual Analytics 7.1 for
SAS® Cloud
Quick-Start Guide
The correct bibliographic citation for this manual is as follows: SAS Institute Inc. 2014. SAS® Visual Analytics 7.1 for SAS® Cloud: Quick-Start Guide. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.
SAS® Visual Analytics 7.1 for SAS® Cloud: Quick-Start Guide
Copyright © 2014, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA
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Table of Contents Set Up the SAS® Visual Analytics Environment in the SAS® Cloud ....................................................................... 1
Log On to SAS App Central .................................................................................................................................. 1
SAS App Central ................................................................................................................................................... 2
Administration Setup Tasks ................................................................................................................................. 2
Create Users for Your Account ........................................................................................................................ 2
Managing Users and Giving Users Access to SAS Visual Analytics .................................................................. 3
Preparing and Loading Data ................................................................................................................................ 5
Local ................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Server ............................................................................................................................................................... 8
Uploading Data Files to the SAS Cloud Using the SAS vApp Data Manager .................................................... 8
Data Auto Load ................................................................................................................................................ 9
Data Loading Tips .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Accessing SAS Visual Analytics Reports from a Mobile Device ......................................................................... 11
Installing and Configuring SAS® Mobile BI for the Apple iPad ....................................................................... 11
Installing and Configuring SAS Mobile BI for Android-Based Tablets ........................................................... 13
SAS Mobile BI Notes ...................................................................................................................................... 15
References and Help.......................................................................................................................................... 15
References ..................................................................................................................................................... 15
Identifying URLs for Mobile BI ....................................................................................................................... 15
Training .......................................................................................................................................................... 16
Help ............................................................................................................................................................... 16
Express Services ................................................................................................................................................. 16
Page 1
Set Up the SAS® Visual Analytics Environment in the SAS® Cloud
After the SAS environment has been prepared, the Account Administrator receives an e-mail message from
SAS titled Welcome to the SAS Cloud! Your account is ready. This e-mail message includes instructions for
obtaining a SAS Profile and then using your SAS profile credentials to access the SAS Cloud.
Note: The e-mail address that you use for your SAS Profile Account must match the e-mail address where
you received the Welcome e-mail message.
Log On to SAS App Central
1. Navigate to the following URL to arrive at the My SAS Profile Screen (Figure 1):
http://cloud.sas.com
2. Enter your SAS Profile Credentials and select Login.
Note: To log on, you need to use your SAS Profile for www.sas.com. If you do not have a SAS Profile, you
must create one before logging on for the first time.
You arrive on the SAS App Central home page (Figure 2). From this page, you can manage the SAS Visual
Analytics environment by adding users and specifying their access rights. You can also access the SAS Visual
Analytics environment.
Figure 1: Logon
SAS® Visual Analytics 7.1 for SAS® Cloud 3.0 Quick-Start Guide
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Figure 2: SAS App Central
SAS App Central
The SAS App Central application does not refresh automatically. You must press the F5 key to refresh.
Administration Setup Tasks
Create Users for Your Account
You may need to add users so that they can also access the SAS Visual Analytics environment. Adding users
is performed from SAS App Central.
Note: SAS App Central should still be running under a different tab within your web browser.
1. Log on to the SAS Cloud as the account administrator.
2. In SAS App Central, select the Users tab.
3. Click Add Users to display the Add Users dialog box (Figure 3).
4. In User 1, enter the e-mail address of a user account.
5. (Optional) Repeat the preceding step for additional users.
6. (Optional) Select Send invitations to send e-mail invitations to the entered e-mail address(es).
7. Click Add. The Create Users window closes.
New users receive e-mail notifications after their accounts are created. The e-mail message has the subject
line Welcome to the SAS Cloud. This e-mail message includes instructions for accessing SAS App Central.
From SAS App Central, users who are given access to the SAS Visual Analytics environment can log on using
the Log On to SAS App Central instructions above.
For additional details on adding users, refer to Chapter 3 “Managing Users” in the SAS Cloud: Account
Administrator’s Guide.
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Figure 3: Add Users
Managing Users and Giving Users Access to SAS Visual Analytics
You are also able to assign each user specific access roles and determine which users are able to access the
SAS Visual Analytics environment. The number of users able to access the environment is determined by the
service level for which you are licensed.
1. Log on to the SAS Cloud as the account administrator.
2. In SAS App Central, select the Users tab.
3. In the Users screen, click the E-Mail address of the user you wish to modify (Figure 4).
4. From the Users screen, click Edit (to the right of Roles), as shown in Figure 5.
5. In the Edit Roles screen, select the roles you wish to grant to the user (Figure 6):
a. Data administrator – Data administrators have the ability to load data into the SAS Visual Analytics
environment using the SAS® vApp Data Manager application.
b. SAS administrator – SAS administrators have the ability to access administrative applications, such
as SAS Management Console and SAS vApp Ledger.
c. SAS user – Ability to access SAS applications as a regular user.
d. Account administrator – Account administrators have the ability to maintain the customer's
account, including adding users, providing users access to applications, and assigning users to roles. The
Account administrator is also able to manage environments.
6. Click OK.
7. Upon returning to the Users screen, click Edit (to the right of Environments), as shown in Figure 5.
8. In the Edit Environment screen, select the environment(s) to which you providing the user with access.
a. Check the appropriate environment, typically vanlytscw-s (Figure 7).
b. Select OK.
For additional details on adding users, refer to Chapter 3 “Managing Users” in the SAS Cloud: Account
Administrator’s Guide.
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Figure 4: Users
Figure 5: Account Roles
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Figure 6: Edit Account Roles
Figure 7: Assign Roles and Applications
Preparing and Loading Data
To load data, launch the SAS Visual Analytics Hub. On the SAS Visual Analytics home page, select the Create
Data Query icon. From the Prepare Data screen, use the menu to select File > Import Data.
The following options are available from the Import Data dialog box (Figure 8):
■ Local: Enables you to upload data from your own computer. It can be used to load into the SAS® LASR™
Analytic Server smaller files in XLS, CSV, or SAS data set format.
■ Server: Enables you to load larger SAS data sets that are moved to Cloud Storage via the SAS vApp Data
Manager application.
■ Social Media: Enables you to import data from Twitter. This feature is not covered within this
document.
This Quick-Start guide focuses on aspects of data loading unique to customers who are accessing the SAS
Visual Analytics environment using the SAS Cloud.
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For general information about loading data for use in SAS Visual Analytics, refer to the SAS® Visual Analytics
7.1 User's Guide.
Figure 8: Import Data
Local
For general information about loading the data that is used in SAS Visual Analytics, refer to the Importing
Local Data Files section of the SAS® Visual Analytics 7.1 User's Guide. Where you place the data determines
whether it is accessible by other users within your account, or visible only to the user who uploaded the
data. This setting is configurable via the advanced options within the Import Text File dialog box (Figure 9).
By default, data is written to the My Folder location. For data to be available to other users, you must
specify a location within the Shared Data folder (Figure 10).
Note: Data loaded via the Local option is written directly into the in-memory SAS LASR Analytic Server. A data set copy of the source data is also saved. If the SAS LASR Analytic Server is stopped and restarted, the
reload-on-start feature automatically reloads the data set copy into the server's memory.
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Figure 9: Import: Advanced Options
Figure 10: Shared Data Location
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Server
For general information about loading data in SAS Visual Analytics, refer to the Importing Data from Servers
section of the SAS® Visual Analytics 7.1 User's Guide.
When working with server data in the SAS Cloud environment, the process begins with the file transfer
(using the SAS vApp Data Manager application) of the SAS data set to the account’s SAS Cloud storage. SAS
data sets uploaded to the folders can then be loaded into the SAS LASR Analytic server using the Server
option. Note: If the SAS data set is loaded into the public (auto loaded) folder, the data set is automatically
uploaded to the SAS LASR Analytic Server.
Note: Files loaded into SAS Cloud are accessible within the vapp/mnt/data folder (Figure 11).
Figure 11: Location of Server Data
Uploading Data Files to the SAS Cloud Using the SAS vApp Data Manager
Note: The SAS vApp Data Manager is written in HTML5. For the best experience, SAS recommends using
Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 or higher.
1. In the My Applications section of the SAS App Central home page (Figure 2), select the SAS vApp Data
Manager icon.
2. In the left pane, navigate to the directory to which you want to upload data (Figure 12).
3. Select the Upload icon at the top of the right pane.
4. In the Windows File Manager, navigate to the file that you want to upload
5. Select Open. The file is uploaded to the directory. Its filename and size are displayed in the right pane.
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The data is now available to applications in the selected SAS environment. You can take the following
actions to manage files that you have uploaded:
■ Select the Download icon to download a file to your computer.
■ Select the Delete icon to delete a file or directory.
Note: Customers in North America can use SFTP to upload data. Refer to the SAS® Cloud: Account
Administrator’s Guide for details.
Figure 12: Manage Data Uploads
Data Auto Load
Automatic data loads in SAS Visual Analytics are available only when files are uploaded to the public (auto
loaded) folder via the SAS vApp Data Manager or SFTP (SFTP is available for US hosted customers only). With
SAS Visual Analytics 7.1, autoload now supports files in CSV, XLS, or SAS data set formats. Depending upon
file size, a data file should be available from the SAS LASR Analytic server within 15 minutes of its placement
in the public folder.
Another benefit of the Auto Load feature is that data files are automatically reloaded if the SAS LASR
Analytic server is restarted.
Note: if an XLS or CSV file is loaded into the public (auto loaded) folder, a system process creates a SAS data
set version of the XLS or CSV file in the public (auto loaded) folder (Figure 13).
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Figure 13: SAS Data Set from CSV File
Data Loading Tips
From within the SAS Visual Analytics application, authorized users can load data via the Local and Server
options.
■ Server enables you to load data from your SAS Cloud storage area. This is the preferred option for
loading SAS data sets that are greater than 2 GB. Note: This option supports SAS data sets only.
■ Local is a quick option that is useful for loading smaller data sets. Note: Data loaded using this
mechanism is not written to your Cloud Storage and will need to reloaded if the SAS LASR Analytic
server is restarted. This option supports the loading of data files in XLS, CSV, and SAS data set file
formats. When working with this option, note the following:
Installing a 64 bit web browser enables you to load larger data files (up to 2 GB). A 2 GB file can
contain up to approximately 1 million records of data, with 12-15 columns.
To simplify the reload process, SAS recommends that you store the source data files in a single
location on your local drive.
While any valid SAS data set, encoded in either wlatin1 or latin1, should readily load into the SAS LASR
Analytic server, XLS and CSV formatted files need to be prepared as follows:
■ The upload file must have a valid SAS file name.
■ During the data loading process, if you select the first row to provide the column names, the first row /
line of the file must contain valid SAS column names.
■ Special characters that are not supported by the standard character set must be removed from the file
prior to upload. Examples of unsupported special characters include ©, ™, and ®.
■ Use supported encoding: wlatin1 or latin1.
■ For CSV files:
All columns / data items must be separated by a comma.
If two commas are used consecutively, a blank data item is assumed.
Commas can be included within a field, if the field is enclosed within double quotes.
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The rules for valid SAS column names and file names are:
■ Names can be up to 32 characters in length.
■ The first character must begin with an English letter or an underscore. Subsequent characters can be
English letters, numeric digits, or underscores.
■ A name cannot contain blanks.
■ A name cannot contain any special characters other than the underscore.
Accessing SAS Visual Analytics Reports from a Mobile Device
Reports that you create within SAS Visual Analytics can be accessed from tablet computers, such as the iOS-
based Apple iPad or the Android-based Samsung Galaxy tablet, using the SAS Mobile BI product. SAS Mobile
BI is available for download at no additional cost. Refer to the SAS Visual Analytics support page for iTunes
and Google Play links for downloading the application.
Installing and Configuring SAS® Mobile BI for the Apple iPad
The following steps are required to obtain, install, and configure the SAS Mobile BI client to access your
cloud-based SAS Visual Analytics reports.
■ From your iPad, navigate to the Apple App Store.
■ After you are in the App Store, perform a search for SAS Mobile BI.
■ Follow the prompts to complete the download and installation process.
■ From your iPad main screen, launch SAS Mobile BI.
■ From the Portfolio screen, select Settings (from the tabs at the bottom).
■ Select Add Connection (Figure 14) and define the connectivity information specific to your
implementation of SAS Visual Analytics in the SAS Cloud.
Server: Enter the URL for your cloud-based implementation of SAS Visual Analytics. The URL should
be in the format of xxxx.xxx.xxxx.xxx:443, where 443 is the secure port assignment. Refer to
Identifying URLs for Mobile BI for guidance.
User ID: Enter the SAS Profile User ID that you use to access SAS Visual Analytics.
Password: Enter the SAS Profile password that you use to access SAS Visual Analytics.
(Optional) Description: Enter a description of your choice.
■ Click Next, upon which the SAS Mobile BI app verifies that your connection information is correct. If
successful, you will receive a Success message. Note: If the connection fails, contact your site
administrator or SAS Technical Support for further assistance (see the Help section below).
■ Now that your connection is configured, you can access the reports available from SAS Visual Analytics
by selecting Library (from the bottom tabs) and choosing the connection you defined above.
■ A list of folders that are available to your account appears. From here, you can navigate to the folder
where the reports were saved. Often, the reports you created are saved to My Folder (Figure 15).
■ From the folder containing your reports, select the report of interest, and click Subscribe (Figure 16).
■ Navigate to Portfolio, where you see the report to which you just subscribed. Depending on your
connection speed and report size, you may observe the report with a status of Loading.
■ After the report loads, select the report to view it. Note: This is a report viewer only. You are not able to
load additional data, modify a report, or create a new report from the SAS Mobile BI client.
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Figure 14: Adding a Connection from the Settings Tab
Figure 15: My Folder
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Figure 16: Subscribing to a Report
Installing and Configuring SAS Mobile BI for Android-Based Tablets
The following steps are required to obtain, install, and configure the SAS Mobile BI client to access your
cloud-based SAS Visual Analytics reports:
■ From your Android tablet, navigate to the Play Store.
■ After you are in the Play Store, perform a search for SAS Mobile BI.
■ Follow the prompts to complete the download and installation process.
■ From your app drawer, launch SAS Mobile BI.
■ From the Portfolio screen, touch Portfolio in the top left corner to bring out the main menu.
■ Select Library from the menu, and then touch the green + symbol at the bottom (Figure 17).
■ Define the connectivity information specific to your implementation of SAS Visual Analytics in the SAS
Cloud:
Server: Enter the URL for your cloud-based implementation of SAS Visual Analytics. The URL should
be in the format of xxxx.xxx.xxxx.xxx:443, where 443 is the secure port assignment. Refer to
Identifying URLs for Mobile BI for guidance.
User ID: Enter the SAS Profile User ID that you use to access SAS Visual Analytics.
Password: Enter the SAS Profile password that you use to access SAS Visual Analytics.
(Optional) Description: Enter a description of your choice.
■ Click Next, upon which the SAS Mobile BI app verifies that your connection information is correct.
If successful, you will receive a Success message. Note: If the connection fails, contact your site
administrator or SAS Technical Support for further assistance (see the Help section below).
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■ Now that your connection is configured, you can access the reports available from SAS Visual Analytics
by selecting Library from the main menu and choosing the connection you defined above.
■ A list of folders that are available to your account appears. From here, you can navigate to the folder
where the reports were saved. Often, the reports you created are saved to My Folder (Figure 18).
■ From the folder containing your reports, select the report of interest, and click Subscribe (Figure 19).
Navigate to Portfolio from the main menu, where you see the report to which you just subscribed.
Depending on your connection speed and report size, you may observe the report with a status of
Loading.
■ After the report loads, select the report to view it. Note: This is a report viewer only. You are not able to
load additional data, modify a report, or create a new report from the SAS Mobile BI client.
Figure 17: Adding a Connection from Library
Figure 18: My Folder
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Figure 19: Subscribing to a Report
SAS Mobile BI Notes
When you first launch SAS Mobile BI, note that several sample reports are already configured for you. These
example reports are not based on your specific data.
Visit the SAS Mobile BI website for more information.
References and Help
References
The SAS Customer Support web site contains helpful information for the following:
■ SAS Cloud
■ SAS Visual Analytics. Select the various tabs for details:
Overview
Getting Started
Documentation
Training
Samples and Tips
Conversations
Identifying URLs for Mobile BI
To determine the URL (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) to enter when configuring a Mobile BI client, refer to the URL that is
assigned to your cloud-based Visual Analytics environment:
1. Launch SAS App Central (cloud.sas.com).
2. From SAS App Central, click on the SAS vApp Data Manager icon.
3. From SAS vApp Data Manager, copy the URL value that is displayed in the browser (Figure 20).
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Figure 20: Copy URL
Training
You can access an extensive collection of more than 100 free SAS Visual Analytics How Do I? videos from the
online SAS Visual Analytics Video Library. These videos deliver just-in-time training on more than 100
common tasks. Each video provides between three and ten minutes of instruction, which help you
experience the benefits of Visual Analytics and better understand the software’s capabilities.
To access the library, visit the course page and click Start.
For individuals who need more in-depth training, SAS Education offers traditional instructor-led learning to
support Visual Analytics, including:
■ A one-day Getting Started course, offered online via SAS’ Live Web classroom.
■ A four-day comprehensive Fast-track course.
For more information you may contacts our training department at [email protected].
Help
For help, contact SAS Technical Support using the information on the linked page. Customers in Europe
should select the Contact your local SAS Office link. Customers in North America can call 919-677-8008.
Express Services
As part of your agreement, SAS will assist you in the preparation and loading of up to three (3) data sets (up
to 5 GB each) as part of the base package. Contact SAS Technical Support for details.
